"Uncle, mercy!"
The man's courage shattered the moment he hit the ground. He curled into a ball at Li Mutian's feet, blubbering. "Mercy, Uncle, mercy — !"
Li Yesheng had only wanted to steal a melon and ease his hunger. He never imagined his uncle — the one man he dreaded above all others — would materialize before him. His legs turned to mud. When he saw the long blade still dripping in Li Mutian's hand, the last shred of his nerve evaporated.
"Yesheng?" Li Mutian squinted. His brow furrowed, his expression unreadable. He stroked his beard and stared down at the boy without a word.
Li Yesheng was Li Yesheng's elder brother. Their father had been bedridden for years, and Li Yesheng spent his days idle and drifting, living off anyone who would feed him.
Two boys came running at the noise. Li Tongya leveled a staff across Li Yesheng's shoulder, pinning him down. The man wept. Li Changhu grabbed his chin, tilted his face toward the light, and his own expression shifted.
"Cousin?" Li Changhu exhaled. Confusion laced the word.
"Why are you here?" Li Tongya asked, cold and flat. The staff did not budge.
"Stealing your melons," Li Mutian answered for him, his voice rigid with contempt. He sheathed his blade and turned away without another look.
"Cousin, my apologies," Li Tongya said. He withdrew the staff and followed his father inside.
Left alone, Li Changhu helped Li Yesheng to his feet, wiped the tears from his face, and spoke a few gentle words before escorting him out of the courtyard.
---
Inside the house, Li Chijing and Li Xiangping sat frozen at the table, the mirror hidden between them. Li Xiangping dared not move. At last his father and second brother entered the hall.
"Where's the eldest?" Li Xiangping asked, glancing behind them.
"Sending the guest off," Li Mutian said, shaking his head. "That boy Yesheng has been skimming off us for a while — I know that. But if word of tonight slips out, it could mean annihilation for this family."
Li Tongya settled onto a low stool and turned toward Li Xiangping, about to speak.
The front gate groaned shut.
Li Changhu walked in wearing a puzzled frown. He took a seat and addressed his father. "Father, was that really necessary? Yesheng only wanted a melon. You could have let it pass and kept the peace. Now we've made an enemy."
"There is no 'his family' and 'our family,'" Li Mutian said. "There is only the Li family. The eldest line and the branch lines — I distinguish them."
He leaned toward the window and listened. Then he beckoned to his wife and youngest. "Go crouch by the front gate and the back. If anyone comes, call out."
They nodded and slipped out. Li Mutian sealed the doors and windows, then clapped Li Xiangping on the shoulder. "Speak."
Li Xiangping swallowed hard and began, barely above a whisper. "Today I was catching fish in the Meichi River. I found something in the water."
He glanced at his father. At the nod, he pulled the mirror from his shirt.
Li Changhu took it, turned it over in his hands, studied it — and understood nothing.
Li Mutian plucked it from his son's grip. He found the small hole in the roof, dragged a stone stool beneath it, and set the mirror down. He narrowed his eyes at his two oldest sons.
Moonlight poured through the hole like rippling water. It gathered above the mirror's face the way swallows flock to a nest at dusk, coalescing into a pale white halo the color of a gemstone.
Li Changhu shot to his feet, eyes nailed to the halo. Li Tongya's composure broke; he stared at the mirror, thoughts churning behind his eyes.
A full stick of incense burned down in silence. The Li family watched the mirror without a word, every face wearing a different shade of shock.
Li Xiangping had seen the vision once before, but it stole his breath all the same. "I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life," he murmured.
"Ha. You? Your old man hasn't seen anything this fine either." Li Mutian's laughter held no warmth. His eyes had gone hard.
"This might belong to an immortal," Li Tongya said. He kept wiping his blade as he spoke, his hands betraying him with their tremor.
"If word escapes, our whole family dies," Li Changhu said, pacing the hall with a face caught between terror and excitement.
"What if it was lost? What if the immortal comes looking for it tomorrow?" Li Tongya fixed his father with a steady gaze. "How do we explain ourselves?"
Li Xiangping nodded, voice low and sullen. "If the immortal rewards us, our family would be set for life."
"Horseshit." Li Mutian waved a hand. "I've heard of immortals. Many of them are killers. We cannot risk it. This mirror has lain underwater for who knows how long. If it were going to be recovered, they would have taken it long ago. It would never have fallen into mortal hands. I wager that immortal is already dead."
The treasonous words made Li Changhu's heart pound. He frowned and fell silent.
Li Tongya's face lit with understanding. "Did Li Yesheng see it?"
"I showed it to Father out front," Li Xiangping said, eyes downcast. "Brother Yesheng was still in the field then, I think."
"I'll kill him." Li Tongya's expression turned lethal. He threw on his rattan coat and reached for his blade without hesitation. Li Xiangping had never seen such a look on his brother's face and found himself staring.
"Stop!" Li Mutian barked. He shot Li Xiangping a glance. The boy flinched. "Father!" Li Tongya's voice finally rose, hard and urgent. "Li Yesheng is fickle and faithless, a loudmouth who will sell us out for a meal. Better we kill him now than let his loose tongue bring our family to ruin."
*Second Brother picked up a lot from the village teacher*, Li Xiangping thought, hanging his head in shame. Father had sent all three to study, and both older brothers had earned the teacher's praise. Only he had been too young and stupid — now he could not even follow the idioms in his brother's speech.
"And if your youngest brother betrayed us too?" Li Mutian laughed. "Would you kill him as well?"
"Our family doesn't breed that kind of coward," Li Tongya said.
Li Mutian shook his head. He straightened the wooden table, leaped lightly onto it, and reached into the roof beam. He pulled down a wooden box.
Setting it on the table, he faced his three sons. "It's time you knew some things. I left home at thirteen and followed the Old Li Road into Anli County. General Yang was raising troops by imperial decree to attack the Mountain Yue tribes. Your father had nowhere else to go, so I enlisted.
"General Yang ran a tight camp, but he ate with his men and slept among them. He taught us the Yue Soldier's Battle Method and told us to train hard. The method is widespread — easy to learn, hard to master. An ordinary man who trains it becomes nimble, nothing more. No miracles."
Li Mutian sighed. His sons listened without blinking.
"After I came home, I learned to read and wrote the battle method onto these wooden slips. You've all trained in it, and as you can see, no miracle has befallen you. That's the first thing."
He opened the box. Inside lay a wooden slip, a paper talisman, a few pieces of broken silver, and some colored glass.